An observation re:mother-judging

Perception

When a mother looks a mess when she has a baby, she’s letting herself go.

When a mother looks put together, but her kids are a mess, she’s neglectful.

When a mother looks good, and her kids look good, she’s a hard-ass.

Reality

When a mother looks a mess when she has a baby, it’s because babies are a fuck load of work and she doesn’t have time or energy to give a shit what people think. I went to the store one day in my nightgown, not as a fashion statement, but because I forgot I hadn’t gotten dressed.

OR it means she’s depressed.

OR it means she’s going through a rough patch.

OR it means she just needed to get something so quickly looking good didn’t warrant giving on her precious fucks.

When a mother looks put together, but her kids are a mess, it’s because kids are messy and can’t stay clean for longer than 5 minutes. I will put my freshly bathed son in clean clothes, and within half an hour he looks like a vagabond.

OR it means that mom has somewhere really important to go, as an adult, for the first time in [time child has been alive], needed to run out to grab something and didn’t feel like sprucing up the spawn.

OR it means that said messy child wouldn’t let mom get him/her clean.

When a mother looks good, and her kids look good, that means Dad helped out in getting the kids ready. Novel concept, ‘eh?

Wasting your time with things I find interesting, amusing, or enraging. Reinke does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations